Report - Guardian

180 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005More than 200,000 cataract operations are performed each year in the UK. Theobjective of the NHS “Action on Cataracts programme”, initiated in 1998, is to increasethe number of cataract procedures carried out in the UK to 250,000 per year. 448The Nystagmus population is also likely to be at a disadvantage when using irisrecognition technology. The inventor of the iris algorithms, Dr John Daugman, hasacknowledged:“Persons with pronounced nystagmus (tremor of the eyes) may havedifficulty in presenting a stable image; however, some iris camerasnow use stroboscopic (flashed infrared) illumination with very fastcamera integration times, on the order of milliseconds, so tremorbecomes unimportant for image capture.” 449Whether the estimated 60,000 or so people with Nystagmus in the UK will be able touse iris biometric systems will depend entirely on whether the government is preparedto ensure that appropriate iris camera equipment is made generally available, both in theenrolment phase and for all points of verification of the iris.Dr Daugman has also identified a larger problem facing blind and visually impairedpeople:“Blind persons may have difficulty in getting themselves aligned withthe iris camera at arm's length, because some such systems rely onvisual feedback via a mirror or LCD display to guide the user intoalignment with the camera.” 450Dr Daugman describes the existence of sophisticated iris cameras that “are mounted onautomatic pan and tilt platforms that actively home in on an eye, including autozoomand autofocus”. Again, the need for such technology at a universal level must berecognised from the outset by government if integrity of iris readings is to be maximisedthroughout the population.Industry selectively acknowledges such difficulties. One Australian iris technologycompany reports:“There is a very small outlier population that cannot use IrisRecognition. These are mainly people who have had cataracts or haveexperienced extreme trauma and scarring to both eyes.” 451The company does not mention problems relating to visual prosthesis, nystagmus ortotal blindness.There are however many circumstances where enrolment with an iris system is possible,but difficult. The iris division of the U.S. based LG Electronics optimistically observes:448 Cited in EuroTimes, published by the European Association of Cataract and refractive surgeons,http://www.escrs.org/eurotimes/archive/nov_dec2000/ukopthamologists.asp.449 John Daugman, Iris Recognition, available at http://www.icdri.org/biometrics/iris_biometrics.htm.450 Ibid.451 Argus technology website http://www.argus-solutions.com/about_overview.htm